~ a quest

Tag Archives: Crayola

Paul Harvey (back in the old days) used to say “And now for the rest of the story!” Well, here is the rest of the story of “The Double (Hot) Dog Dare”. Thursday began with a stop at Yocco’s in Allentown for two Yocco’s Chili Dogs. After leaving Yocco’s I joined the multitudes of folks doing their Christmas shopping the week before Christmas in Whitehall Twp. Whitehall is Allentown extended and a huge shopping area. By early afternoon I was heading east past Bethlehem to Easton, PA in search of Downtown Dawgs on 4th Street. Easton, like Allentown and Bethlehem was hit hard by the closing of the steel mills. Evidence of past glories appeared as rusting and decaying old mills appeared along side of the highway. Easton today is most famous for the Crayola Factory and its hands-on tours. Soon after the road sign warning “Last exit in Pennsylvania” I exited on the 4th street ramp and began looking for Downtown Dawgs. I missed it! Actually, I didn’t miss it the first time down the street. I simply didn’t recognize it as the place I was looking for. There was no sign outside to attract my attention as I drove by watching traffic. I did see the neon ‘hot dog’ sign as I was past the place and wondered if that might be where I was going to complete my double (hot) dog dare challenge.

I drove to the end of 4th Street without seeing anything else that looked like hot dogs so I circled back through the town square round-a-bout and found myself parked across the street from the smallest building on the block. Two young men were standing outside. I later discovered they were waiting for their orders to be completed. Stepping inside I could see completely to the back wall of the building. There were stoves and fryers and such on the left wall and sinks and a refrigerator on the right side of the space. Six feet inside the door was a counter stretching approximately 2/3 of the way across the space. An upright cooler to my left held cold drinks and a bench was placed under the window behind me. This is not an eat in establishment. Kelsey was the one worker present and she asked me what I wanted. I asked her what her specials were. She indicated the wall to my right which had individual 5X7 cards containing hand printed specials thumb tacked to the wall. As I ordered two bacon wrapped dogs with Ranch Dressing and Jalapeños I explained to Kelsey about my quest. She did not seem to believe me but did allow me to take our picture.

(I apologize, Kelsey for the blurred photo.) When I asked her name she even spelled it for me. A second member of the staff came in the back door from her break to get busy with some maintenance concerns, I think. The ‘dogs’ were made from scratch as I waited. No, they didn’t make the dogs from scratch. They cooked everything while I waited and watched. The dogs were placed in a brown bag and away I went with the second half of my double (hot) dog dare. I chuckled at one response I received from Lora last week in response to this dare, “4 hot dogs too many on any given day, in my opinion”. She may be correct! I wonder what she might think if I accept the Triple (hot) dog dare. Returning to my car I passed one other person who wished me “Merry Christmas”. He then added that people don’t say that any more. So, we gave each other a second “Merry Christmas” to make up for all the folks who don’t greet each other like that.

In my car I opened the wrapping around the first dog and took a bit. A wonderful taste treat began dancing on my taste buds. I would never have thought of putting Ranch Dressing on a hot dog before this experience. The bacon and dressing where just too much fun to savor as I quickly downed both hot dogs. I am going to try some Ranch Dressing at home. With the pleasant devouring of two dogs from Downtown Dawg’s I again joined the holiday traffic to return home smiling broadly as I listened to 60s rock and roll satisfied that I had successfully completed my double (hot) dog dare challenge.